Senators beat Ducks 4-3 in shootout

Dec 7, 2009 - 4:55 AM

ANAHEIM, Calif.(AP) -- The Ottawa Senators didn't get much time to
enjoy any of their leads in regulation.

The Senators gave up three one-goal leads - in less than a
minute each time - before Alex Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson
scored in the first two rounds of a shootout to lift Ottawa to a
4-3 victory over the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday night and snap a
four-game losing streak.

Ryan Getzlaf scored a fluke goal for Anaheim 15 seconds after
Jarkko Ruutu got one, Joffrey Lupul tied it again 31 seconds
after Jason Spezza regained the lead for the Senators during a
power play, and Corey Perry completed the Ducks' unusual "hat
trick" early in the third period - 50 seconds after Filip Kuba's
go-ahead score.

Ottawa goalie Brian Elliott finished with 33 saves and stopped
two of three shots in the tiebreaker, helping send Anaheim to
its fifth straight loss and salvage the finale of a five-game
road trip that began with a shootout loss against Boston.

"I thought our guys showed a lot of resilience," Senators coach
Cory Clouston said. "All three times we scored, they scored the
next shift. Sometimes that can be very deflating, but I liked
our character."

Ottawa ended a seven-game road losing streak and beat Anaheim
for the first time in three meetings since the 2007 Stanley Cup
finals, which the Ducks won in five games.

"This is an end to the first chapter of the year. We've got this
long road trip over with and now we are going back home,"
Elliott said. "We are going to be playing a lot of games every
other night now, so it's going to be another big test. But
getting a win tonight was big for us."

Kuba gave the Senators a 3-2 lead 64 seconds into the third
period, beating Jean-Sebastien Giguere to the glove side with a
35-foot snap shot after Spezza set him up in the slot with a
pass from behind the net.

But the Ducks tied it when Perry carried the puck from the top
of the right circle toward the slot and took a backhander that
grazed defenseman Anton Volchenkov's jersey and got past
Elliott's glove.

"It's desperation for us right now," Perry said. "We're at the
30-game mark. We have to put something together and go on a run
here or we're going to be out of it pretty soon. Everybody has
to come together and be a team in here. That is how we have to
play."

Ruutu opened the scoring at 12:01 of the first period,
intercepting James Wisniewski's pass from behind the net and
stuffing his fifth goal past Giguere. The Ducks got even when
Getzlaf fired the puck off the glass above the left boards from
the red line and the carom fooled Elliott, who came out of his
crease to retrieve it and ended up embarrassed when it eluded
his outstretched glove and trickled into the vacated net.

"It just hit one of the stanchions and went to the far side of
the net, so I couldn't get it," Elliott said. "Bad bounce, but
what are you going to do? That is what you've got to tell
yourself - you are playing well, don't worry about that, we'll
get it back and just keep going."

The Senators then received a two-man advantage for 47 seconds
after staggered penalties to Lupul for cross-checking and Todd
Marchant for tripping. Spezza regained the lead for Ottawa 10
seconds after the first penalty expired, converting a rebound at
the 15:17 mark after Giguere made rapid-fire saves against
Kovalev and Daniel Alfredsson.

But the Ducks erased that brief deficit on a wrist shot from the
left circle by Lupul that beat Elliott to the glove side. It was
the third goal in two games for Lupul, who sat out the previous
seven because of back spasms. But the Senators wouldn't be
denied, thanks to Elliott's performance in the shootout.

"It was very important - obviously, with the standings, but just
for the confidence of the team and the confidence of Brian,"
Clouston said. "I thought he played really well. When that first
goal goes in, you're thinking, Murphy's Law - it's going to
happen again. But I thought he showed resiliency and a lot of
character to not let that goal destroy him."

NOTES: The Ducks are 99-74-21 since their Stanley Cup showdown
with Ottawa, and the Senators are 93-76-23. Each club has seven
players left on its roster from those finals. ... Alfredsson,
the franchise leader in points, goals and assists, hasn't gone
more than three consecutive games without a point since a
four-game stretch in October 2006. ... Following Tuesday night's
game against Dallas, the Ducks will play seven of their next
eight on the road. ... Perry, whose franchise-record 19-game
point streak ended last week, extended his home point streak to
15 games with his 15th goal. ... Anaheim's opponents were 2 for
26 on the power play over the previous seven games.